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There are no answers to the question yet, so I decided to give it a shot. There are two comments from other Quora users embedded with the question:

Anonymous:Is it true that people of Mizoram don't consider themselves to be Indian? Or is it just one of those myths? I really want to know what Mizos really feel about India.

Benjamin Rualthanzauva:We do feel like Indians as a Citizen but culturally we don't. Because we are just too different, to keep a long story short.

...

Well, here’s the long story -

Culturally, yes, we feel very different...

...but then again, India is a land of diversities, consisting of many different cultures and traditions. Here is my attempt at answering your question.

First of all, let me state that it is difficult to answer such a blunt and direct question that will have different answers based on the perspective and background of the person answering. And I will need to generalize a bit here in order to simplify my answer, so I’m just grouping the entire Mainland India (that is, excluding the North Eastern States) as one group. Of course there will be aberrations and exceptional cases here and there which I hope we can ignore during this discourse.

I'm a Mizo, a person from Mizoram, but I was brought up outside Mizoram since class 3 (1992 onwards) at various boarding schools and colleges across India, and I travel back to Mizoram once or twice a year for vacations to be with my friends and family. Apart from Hindi and Mizo, I speak a bit of Tamil, and also understand a bit of Malayalam, Bengali and Marathi. I have been exposed to different Indian cultures and cuisines, so the way I think of India may be a bit different from a Mizo who has never set foot outside Mizoram, hence let me try my best to give a balanced and generalized answer.

How do Mizos think of India?

The first thing most Mizos experience when we leave our state and come to this side of the country for education or jobs are the racial abuses. This is a problem faced by most North Eastern Indians with mongoloid features. Being called “chinkis”, “ching chongs” and being jeered at on the streets in public (even after the SC prohibition) is still a common experience for us even today. So yes, somebody experiencing that for the first time will definitely have a bitter opinion about Indians in general.

But does that mean we Mizos are just victims and we aren’t racists ourselves?

In Mizoram, we call mainland Indians (people having the Indian majority “Indo-Aryan” and “Dravidian” looks and physical features) as "Vai". The word “Vai” originated from the Hindi word “Bhai” which means “brother” and it is used to describe a non-Mizo, an outsider.

According to one legend, when Mizo warriors ventured from the mountains to the plains for the first time and met the plains-people who had completely different facial features, cultures and languages, through the use of sign languages and colloquial words, those people introduced themselves to the Mizos as “bhai”, to indicate their friendliness. Another legend stated that it was the British who brought people from Mainland India to our land and introduced them to us as “Bhai” so as to bring in a feeling of goodwill between our two groups.

Since we didn’t have a “bh” in our Mizo vocabulary, we ended up pronouncing it as “Vai” instead of bhai, and henceforth, people with such facial features, ie, ANI - Ancestral North Indians and ASI - Ancestral South Indians (refer: Wikipedia: Indian People) came to be known as Vai’s.

So that’s what most Mizos think of India, that a majority of its population are made up of Vais. And calling somebody a “Vai” actually means calling that person a brother and it was never a derogatory slur.

The word “Vai” took an ugly turn after India's independence from the British. Mizos, unlike the Nagas and a few other North Eastern ethnic groups, decided to remain a part of India when the British said they were leaving. You should know that what is now Mizoram, a land once governed by various warring Mizo clan chiefs, and most of the other North Eastern states were never once a part of any Muslim dynasty or Hindu ruler that ruled over what is now India before the British took over the entire area.

But soon after India’s Independence Day, Mizoram (which was known as the Lushai Hills district back then) experienced a terrible famine in 1958 due to the flowering of bamboos (known as mautam in Mizo, which means “Bamboo death”). The flowering of bamboos led to a boom in rat population, that in turn ate up all the food stock of the people.

Hundreds of Mizos died every day, but all pleas sent to the Indian Government were ignored. Finally, Pu Laldenga formed the MNFF (Mizo National Famine Front) where every Mizo took it to task to help a fellow Mizo member, sending food, no matter how scarce, to those who needed it more. After many more casualties, the famine finally passed. That was when many Mizos said enough was enough, that there was no point in being a part of a country that didn’t care about its people, and the MNFF became the MNF (Mizo National Front), demanding a sovereign Mizo country.

The Indian army moved in, and life became difficult for those caught in between. Then came “Operation Jericho” in 1966, when the MNA (Mizo National Army), the armed wing of the MNF, overran various government institutions in one swift and well coordinated attack across different cities, beating back the Indian army and executing officers and other Mizos suspected of being informers to the Indian army. That was when Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, ordered the Air Force bombing. On March 5th and 6th, 1966, Hunter and Toofani jetfighters deployed from Tezpur IAF base continuously bombed various cities, indiscriminately killing anyone and reducing many villages and towns to ashes. (TimesCrest: Gaddafi in Mizoram)

Till now, the Indian Government has denied bombing its own soil that resulted in the loss of many innocent lives, including many civilians who actually didn’t support the MNF’s aspiration of a sovereign nation. The MNF was pushed back to the forests and more Indian soldiers were deployed in the area. From the 764 villages governed by various clans and chiefs, the army demolished 516 and converted it into 110 PPV (Protected and Progressive Villages) described as "something like the concentration camps of Auschwitz, minus the gas chambers" by researchers. (Air attacks in Mizoram, 1966 - our dirty, little secret)

There were many allegations of Mizo women being raped daily by the army officers, as most of the Mizo men were in the forests engaged in guerrilla warfare with the army. There was the dreaded "black diary" every Mizo women feared, where top army officers would write down the names of village damsels, and such women had to report to the officer's quarter in the night to spend the night with him. That happened in rotation and it only provoked more youth to join the rebel cause.

Finally, through many meetings with Indian Government representatives, conditions started becoming more and more peaceful from 1972 onwards. The Mizo Peace accord was finally signed between the MNF and Government of India in 1986, bringing in permanent peace and making Mizoram the most peaceful state in North East India till today.

Why did I just take you through a brief history of Mizoram?

Because to many Mizos, especially those who had experienced the insurgency and atrocities committed by the Indian army first hand, even though there’s peace now, there is still that feeling of bitterness lingering in the air. To such people, all “Vais” are still the evil perpetrator. But this trend of generalizing all Vais into one bucket is not as common as I used to remember when I was a kid.

However, if you’re a non-Mizo and you walk on the streets of Mizoram today, you may still encounter an unfortunate incident of a few miscreants (usually inebriated ones) menacingly passing comments at you like, “Vai chhia” (disgusting outsider) etc at you. This of course happens extremely rarely today, and I know so many non-Mizo tourists who had visited Mizoram and not experienced anything like this. But I’m just giving you a heads-up in case you do visit Mizoram in the future, it’s a beautiful place there. A large majority of us aren’t like that today.

One reason why such animosity still exists even today is because of our insecurity. Mizos are threatened by Vais, the outsiders, especially since many of us were brought up with stories of what the army did to our women. And sometimes, even today, in order to discipline a spoilt child, a mother may say stuff like “Behave yourself, don’t make such loud noises, or else a Vai will come and kidnap you.” This works in favour of the mother, because the child is now quiet, scared of the so called Vai. However, this also psychologically affects him/her as that person grows up, making it hard for him or her to trust a non-Mizo. I really feel such disciplinary tactics should be stopped.

Another reason for our insecurity is because of the difference in advancement between our Mizo society and the broader Indian society (in general). For us Mizos, it’s been just around 100 years since the Welsh missionaries came to our land and converted all of us to Christianity. We were animists before that, worshipping the sun, forests, animals and spirits. Along with Christianity, they educated us, teaching us how to read and write, and giving us our own written script.

Compare that to the rich cultural heritage of various Hindu and Muslim empires that ruled over the rest of India before the British came. We know we’re no match when it comes to business or manufacturing or even agriculture, but we gave it our best shot and today we’re the second highest literate state in India. But we still have miles to go if we want to compete with other Indians, so there is always that tinge of insecurity within us because of our “late start”.

Other than that, the situation today has vastly improved. Hindi shows like Kasauti were a huge rave in Mizoram a few years ago. Hindi movies are also quite popular for a population whose mother tongue is not Hindi, and photos of various Bollywood actors can be found in many shops and houses. Songs like “Papa kehte hain” and “Pehla nasha” are iconic and when a group of Mizos sit together with a guitar (we LOVE to sing), those two songs are usually sung. Long before the arrival of Star TV network, we tried our best not to miss shows like “Chitrahaar”, just like the rest of India.

Sometimes, Mizos coming to this side of the Country for the first time find it funny how most Indians immediately get up from their seats once the plane lands, even though nobody can get out of the plane yet. In our Mizo society, you will not find us fighting with each other to get in line etc. Even when it comes to basics, like waiting for LPG gas, people politely form a queue. Here is one such picture I took recently.

In fact, whenever we fly home to Mizoram (or from Mizoram), we call that moment the plane comes to a halt after landing as “Vai thawh hun”, when all non-Mizos immediately spring out from their seats grabbing their bags and knocking over each other in spite of the flight attendant pleading them to remain seated. Every Mizo sitting in the plane just grins at the circus show.

Not to sound racist, but many Mizos are also sceptical of other Indians, finding it hard to trust strangers. This probably stems from the fact that in Mizoram, everybody trusts each other. We actually have unmanned shops in Mizoram. There are many vendor-less road-side stalls, where vegetables, fruits and other goods are displayed for sale, with their prices written next to them. All you have to do is pick up what you want, put the money in a box and leave. You can even take change back from the box yourself. And the owner comes to the stall at the end of the day to collect the money and he never sees a loss.

I’m not saying other Indians are less untrustworthy than Mizos just because you won’t find such vendor-less shops this side of the country. The reason why we trust ourselves so blindly is because we’re a homogenous group with a very small population of just 1 million (second least populated state in India). I’m sure as we grow and become less close-knitted and more apart from each other, more and more antisocial elements will creep into our society as well. But as of now, yeah, when I am in the midst of other Indians, like travelling alone on a train with strangers, I will take my bag with me when I go to the loo (just like how you would do it too). Likewise, when I leave my apartment here in Mumbai, I always lock it up (which again I’m sure you do too), whereas in Mizoram, many of us don't, and some of us even sleep with our doors unlocked. Below is a photo of an entire locality feasting together, displaying our bonhomie.

When it comes to food, most Mizos travelling outside Mizoram for the first time find it very difficult to adjust to the Indian cuisine here. In Mizoram, we eat three times a day – Breakfast consists of rice, dal, boiled vegetables and meat, so yes, it is quite heavy compared to the breakfast we eat in the rest of India like dosas, puri bhajis, sandwiches, pohas, cereals etc. “Lunch” in Mizoram consists of just a tea break with light snacks like one plate/piece of momos, chow, paratha, alu chop etc. Dinner on the other hand, tends to be heavy again, which consists of the usual rice and other accompanying dishes. It takes time for a Mizo to get used to such a different routine.

Even when it comes to the type of food served, rice is a staple diet in Mizoram, and many Mizos are not used to breads like roti, chapattis, naans etc. I know many Mizos who cannot consider a meal to be a meal if there is no rice! True fact. And we love our meat. Pork, beef and chicken are some of our favourite meats, and they are usually boiled with veggies together. We also love spicy food, but by spice, I’m talking about “chilly” spice. Most spicy Indian dishes are spicy because of the masalas. We Mizos on the other hand, use very little masalas in our dishes, and many Mizos cannot stand the smell of oily masala-rich curry being prepared.

But it is something one can get used to and I know many Mizos, especially students, who ended up loving the food served in this part of the country. I for one, love the diversity of cuisines and am a foodie myself, actively taking part in many “food lovers club” initiatives in Mumbai.

When it comes to Loyalty for India, yes, the patriotic sentiment of the Mizos is strong today, in spite of some people still holding grudges as mentioned earlier. There are many Mizos serving in the Indian armed forces. Two of my cousins are officers in the Air Force, another in the Army, and here in Mumbai I have many close Mizo friends currently serving in the Indian Navy. But what saddens me sometimes is the fact that many Indians are not aware of the number of people from the North East serving in the armed forces.

For example, during the recent Chinese incursion in Arunachal Pradesh, a cell phone video recorded by a Mizo soldier whose contingent was posted there, was obtained by TOI. In the video, you could see Mizo Indian soldiers grabbing the Chinese soldiers and telling his Mizo mates not to let any of them through. There were a lot of scuffles and wrestles and Mizos shouting out instructions. But the TOI comments (Timeline Photos - The Times of India | Facebook) were full of racial hate, abusing even the Mizo Indian soldier, saying stuff like, “shoot all these chinky dogs”, “shut up you ching chang chong”, etc. Later on, TOI did delete some of the comments after we complained, but that really hurt many of us, especially friends and family of those Mizo soldiers posted at our borders who were ready to die protecting all of us.

So, yeah, as “anonymous” commented on this very question – “Is it true that people of Mizoram don't consider themselves to be Indian?”, I would like to reply and rephrase that as “No actually, the people of Mizoram do consider ourselves to be Indians. It is the Indians who don’t consider us to be Indians.”

I hope you consider this reply satisfactory. Like I said in the beginning, I had to generalize here and there in order to avoid making this reply any longer than it already is. Please feel free to disagree to my views, whether from a Mizo or a non-Mizo’s point of view.

*Ps. Some photos are mine, others from our site mi(sual).com and a few from FB and Google image search, so in case you don't want me using your photo, please let me know and I'll take them down.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Most people usually don’t accept friend requests on Facebook from strangers. After all, they could be weirdos, creepos, stalkers, or even burglars who’ll prey on an unsuspecting victim’s house when they see a status update that the person is out dining or away on a vacation (yes, such things really do happen in today’s world). Apart from that, most people prefer being “friends” only with people they actually know in real life.

However, in our Mizo community, I don’t think it would be wrong to state that many of us, especially guys, accept friend requests from strangers as long as they are Mizos too (unless of course you’re an eccentric private person or a famous local celebrity).

In a way, we feel as if that person is not a stranger if there are many “mutual friends” between us because we’re such a small and close-knit community with a total population of less than the number of people residing here in Andheri, Mumbai. And some of us also consider it rude not to accept a friend request from a fellow Mizo, though that doesn’t apply to everybody.

Hence, Frigyes Karinthy’s “Six degrees of separation” theory would probably be reduced to just “Two degrees” if we look at our Mizo online community alone.

And that brings in new complications and phenomena when it comes to relationships and break-ups.

Back before the days of 3G, mobile phones and social network sites, when couples break up, it means just that – cutting off all ties from each other. And those who had broken up, rarely came across each other again… and even if they did, there was just the awkward hello and bye, or the “pretend not to see each other” drama.

However, in today’s world of advanced technology and emerging platforms, one can easily drunk-dial an ex from the sweet comfort of his or her bed, ushering in regret the very next morning. Imagine back then, you tried to drunk dial an ex. That would usually mean walking up to an STD booth, waiting in a long queue for your turn, dialing the number only to have her dad or his mom answer the phone… naaah you’d rather just pass-out than go through all that. But the good thing was, there was no regret the next day :)

Today, everything is at the tip of our fingers. Smartphone, 3G connection, easy internet recharge pack, all leading to a very connected social life online, making it really hard to escape the past among our Mizo online community. Even if you’re not friends on Facebook, there are always those mutual friends around. Hence, every now and then you chance upon his comment in a friend’s status update, or at numerous Mizo Facebook groups like “Special Report”, “Chanchinthar”, “Mizo Nuthlawi Chhelo Pic Post na” group etc where you see her comment (and if you’re still not over that person, a tinge of jealousy does creep in when you see other guys liking her comment, even if the comment was just a simple smiley).And if you DO remain friends on Facebook after breaking up, then prepare to face all sorts of different ex-boyfriends and ex-girlfriends. Here are a few of them I’m sure you must have come across in today’s Mizo online world…

There’s the ex who still “likes” every post you make but never comments, the ex who leaves a “hmmm” comment when you’re commenting continuously with somebody of the opposite sex, the ex who tags you in every photo he/she posts, the ex who posts really cryptic and ambiguous status updates (“aarrghhh. I hate you bitch, you slut, you whore.”) making you wonder if it’s you he’s talking about (but then, of course you can’t call him up or message him to ask who he’s talking about because he may interpret that as you stalking him or still not over him, hence leaving you with doubts and uneasiness for the rest of the day), and the ex who directly bitches about you even though you know she knows you can very well see that status (“Jerk, you said you don’t like bekang when we were together and now you’re having it just because your new girlfriend made it? All men are assholes. Go to hell.”)

And then there’s the married ex who updates every single profile pic of hers with photos of her new born baby, the ex who openly flirts with all your friends, shaming you for being in a relationship with him in the first place, the ex of an ex you suddenly became best friends with because you both hate the same ex, the ex you still run to for technical assistance whenever your computer or phone conks off, the obviously drunk ex who posts nothing but sad break-up songs and poems on his wall after 11 PM, the ex who still “pokes” you and then sends you a sad smiley mail when you don’t poke back, the ex who “untags” you and deletes every photo of the two of you from his photo album, and the ex all your common friends publicly teases you with if you ever comment on any of her status updates.

Around 10-15 years ago, most of us would have been extremely uncomfortable if our current boyfriend or girlfriend was still keeping in touch with his/her ex. In fact it was an unwritten code back then to avoid an ex if one was in a new relationship. Today, due to social network revolution, this has now become more or less of a joke. People who tell their current partners to “unfriend” or block an ex are now in the minority. The world has moved on and remaining friends with an ex is now considered a social norm. I once helped campaign on Facebook for the ex-boyfriend of one of my ex-girlfriends for a popularity contest (most number of likes) because she asked me to! And he came in second. And all three of us were happy after that.

So, to conclude, in a close-knit society like ours, has technology changed the way we deal with relationships?

My cousin (who is much older than me) told me that young Mizo guys don’t come to his house to “rim” (woo) his young daughter (my niece) anymore, and instead they do it online through Facebook chat, Skype, Facetime, WhatsApp, Google Hangout etc. He’s a bit old-school but he feels that is safer because according to him, (a) they end up spending more time with different people and yet there is no physical contact, and (b) that way, young guys can avoid extremely awkward situations like when different guys land at the same house to rim the same girl at the same time.

But then, with the good, comes the bad. Like how ease of access leads to an increase in infidelity. Or the rise in number of “leaked” scandalous photos and videos meant only for the prying eyes of one’s lover. Rather than being more discreet, more people are now installing apps such as SnapChat and Wink that promises to delete sent photos within 10 seconds. Location based Geosocial network apps like Foursquare, Gowalla and Latitude (now replaced by G+ User Locations) are also becoming a popular trend among young Mizos. However, with the way we blindly trust our fellow Mizos, if not carefully used, miscreants can misuse this feature with dangerous consequences, as is already happening in the West.

Many app developers are now targeting the “couples market” by making couple-exclusive apps like Avocado and Couple (which has now been renamed to “Pair”) where things shared are only between the two people involved. Perhaps our Mizo community will pick up on such apps as well, instead of publicly flirting online or having a lover’s quarrel and airing one’s dirty linen in public for all to see. That just… leads to further embarrassment for both parties later.

So are things really different now when it comes to relationships in our Mizo community?

Well, the playground may have changed, but the rules are still the same. Instead of slyly glancing at the hand of a cute girl you meet at a friend’s house party to see if she’s wearing a ring or not, you now stalk her Facebook profile to see her relationship status or photo album for any boyfriend or husband. Instead of sitting next to her and coyly analyzing her body language like the way she’s sitting crossed leg with her knees pointing towards you and high heels dangling on her toe while she plays with her hair, you now instead analyze her replies on Facebook or how long it takes for her to reply on WhatsApp after she has seen your text. Instead of asking her what her favorite things are, you now turn to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest etc. to see what are the brands and movies she likes or follows. Yes, same ritual, just a different mating ground.

As a tiny community, we should be wary of new technology, especially when it comes to privacy settings. Make sure you don’t over-share with strangers if you’re not comfortable with it. And pay heed to new technology. I actually have a few friends who used my usb charger connected to my PC to charge their phone battery, and ended up syncing all the images in their phone’s gallery to my Dropbox cloud account!!! :) And by simply accessing my cloud data storage via wifi, I gave them a mini heart-attack when I showed them their private photos from my phone :D

Treat new technology just like how you treat a new relationship -> You don’t want to screw things up, You’re careful at first, You don’t rush in, You tread carefully, and You never get involved with it while you’re piss-drunk, otherwise it will lead to disastrous consequences you’ll regret for the rest of your life. Have fun, play safe and keep on loving.

Wednesday, January 01, 2014

Hello first blog post of 2014. Yes I am so looking forward to this New Year! First of all, our own mobile games development company FITH Media just turned ONE YEAR OLD today. Yes, we’re still surviving and kicking, biyaaaatch! :)

When we started this company exactly a year ago and announced that we would not be operating in a “studio model” (that is, make games for brands or other companies according to their own whims and fancies) and that we would instead me developing our own IPs (Intellectual Properties), many skeptics told us we would not even last a Quarter in this cutthroat world. And look at where we are today! We have solid funding from a bunch of awesome investors, even got selected for the prestigious “Start-Up Chile Accelerator” programme, published 6 Android games with over 9 million downloads in total, raked in an impressive revenue from Ads and In-App Purchases, two of our games were nominated for NASSCOM’s "Best Mobile Game of the Year", and we still have a long list of games to develop that will definitely rock the gaming world later this year!

Apart from that, my blog will be turning 10 years old this year! Trust me, being a consistent blogger and publishing around 50 blog posts per year for nine straight years isn’t that easy at all! Can’t wait for that moment to come :)

So today, to celebrate the New Year, I spent the day with my Mizo community here in Mumbai.

Met up with DP, Fifi and Henry at Bandra, and we all proceeded to Mizoram House, Lower Parel, in the evening.

We took the Bandra Worli Sea Link, and I had never seen such mist at that time of the day… Was truly a spectacular sight…

What all of us were looking forward to, was the return of Pu Bika, deputy resident commissioner of Mizoram House, who spent Christmas in Mizoram and who promised to bring back awesome “pork stuff” from Mizoram for New Year.

And yes, he kept to his word!

There was the oh so awesomeeee “vawk lu bawl” which, urrrrmmm… is a special Mizo delicacy made from Pig’s head, sesame seed and a few other ingredients… The dinner queue was long…

Here’s the food I had… yeah, envy me peeps! :P

Maria Hmaii with her plateful, looking not so ecstatic that I captured a pic of her with her plate :D

Mapuia left his home at Powai much after we left Bandra, and yet reached way before us and was already eating by the time we queued up. How did he do that???? Perhaps, being a tlangval senior with years of experience in Mumbai, he knew shortcuts and unexplored alleys that we didn’t?

Here’s Mapuia, hiding his face from my phone cam because he knew I was going to post this later tonight anyway :P On the extreme left is the beautiful Mumbai bride Teii. Her husband TBC had gone off to drop Zambawihi at her place for the night… :D :P

Kuri Chongthu and I decided to take a picture of each other right at the same time, like one of those Western cowboy quick draw moments :) Unfortunately, the pic I took of her was only “white brightness”, of her camera flash. Here's the pic she managed to take of me. She won this time :(

Another pic of me that Kuri took, enjoying the awesome “I kill you pig head vaipa mix” :P Behind me is the lovely Lovely.

I’m so impressed with Maliani, who showed not even the slightest hint of hangover from her awesome New Year Party last night :)

And here are the other pics I took tonight… Pu Malsawma and family.

Sitting comfortably with full stomachs :)

I actually walked up to them and asked them if I could take a pic of them because they were all looking so gorgeous sitting in the corridor by themselves, and they kindly obliged. See, that is what I love about our Mizo community :)

Dee Knyte and Hmaii Hauva struggling with the Mizoram calendar, trying to figure out the name of the months written in Mizo :P

A truly awesome dinner. And that too at just 150 bucks per head. If this could happen everyday, I so would go to Mizoram House everyday! :)

After dinner, we were all supposed to stay back and sing for praise and worship, but unfortunately, I had an important meeting with… some work related stuff… cough cough… you know what I mean… and so I had to politely leave… but seriously, that was a truly awesome dinner! Kudos to the Mumbai Mizo community leaders and Pu Bika!

Mizohican :

About Me :

If I had a penny for every time somebody asks me: "Hey do you know kheema means mince meat?" I’d be living in a house twice the size of the Playboy mansion with thrice the number of occupants.

Formerly a Copywriter and Creative Trailblazer at Dentsu Webchutney, recently a proud Co-Founder and Chief Ninja of my own dream company FITH Media, currently a Game Designer and part-time Cook at Playizzon and JetGames. I live life to the fullest. Hope you enjoy my blog posts.